Hillsdale, Cedarville Earn Presidents’ Award for Academic Excellence

12.6.18

INDIANAPOLIS - The Presidents’ Award for Academic Excellence — presented to Division II member schools earning an Academic Success Rate of 90 percent or higher — will go to 27 schools in the eighth year of the program.
 
Two of those 27 schools receiving the prestigious national honor are from the Great Midwest Athletic Conference, Hillsdale College and Cedarville University. 
 
Bentley was the top performer in the division, turning in a four-year ASR of 99 percent. Five schools also earned rates of 97 percent: Hillsdale, Point Loma, Saint Michael’s, Seattle Pacific and Thomas Jefferson University.
 
Hillsdale was tied for the second-best ASR in Division II along with the four aforementioned institutions. Cedarville earned the honor for the sixth consecutive year. 
 
The Northeast-10 and Great Lakes Valley conferences led Division II’s 24 conferences in ASR rates, with four athletics programs posting scores of 90 percent or more.
 
“The schools we recognize with the Presidents’ Award for Academic Excellence demonstrate a firm commitment to support the academic success of student-athletes,” said Glen Jones, president of Henderson State and chair of the Division II Presidents Council. “We commend them for their ongoing efforts to provide student-athletes with the opportunity to excel in the classroom, on the field and for life.”
 
The Academic Success Rate is the percentage of student-athletes who graduate within six years of initial collegiate enrollment and includes virtually all Division II student-athletes, including transfers and those not receiving athletic scholarships.
 
The Division II ASR also captures about 48 percent more student-athletes than the federal graduation rate. Unlike the federal rate, the ASR counts non-scholarship student-athletes and those who transfer to a school after initial enrollment elsewhere, while removing student-athletes who leave school while academically eligible. The national ASR for the four cohorts of student-athletes who entered college from 2008 to 2011 is 73 percent, up 1 point from the previous four-year cohort (2007-10).
 
Division II student-athletes continue to graduate at a higher rate than the general student body. The federal rate for the 2011 entering class of student-athletes increased 1 point to 57 percent, compared with 50 percent for the general student body.

 
School Conference Four-Year ASR
Bentley Northeast-10 Conference 99
Thomas Jefferson University Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference 97
Saint Michael's  Northeast-10 Conference 97
Point Loma  Pacific West Conference 97
Seattle Pacific  Great Northwest Athletic Conference 97
Hillsdale Great Midwest Athletic Conference 97
Stonehill Northeast-10 Conference 96
Rollins Sunshine State Conference 95
Eckerd Sunshine State Conference 95
University of the Sciences Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference 94
Flagler Peach Belt Conference 94
UC San Diego California Collegiate Athletic Association 94
Regis (Colorado) Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference 94
UIndy Great Lakes Valley Conference 92
Cedarville Great Midwest Athletic Conference 92
Westminster (Utah) Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference 92
Sioux Falls Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference 92
Rockhurst Great Lakes Valley Conference 92
Lewis Great Lakes Valley Conference 91
Barry Sunshine State Conference 91
Assumption Northeast-10 Conference 91
Bellarmine Great Lakes Valley Conference 90
Caldwell Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference 90
Oakland City  Independent 90
Western Washington  Great Northwest Athletic Conference 90
Dominican (California) Pacific West Conference 90
Dallas Baptist University Heartland Conference 90